Amboy Guardian 5_20_20

2. The Amboy Guardian *May 20, 2020
Legal Bills & Lawsuits of Topics for Discussion
5/13/20 Caucus & Council Meetings via Teleconference
*Continued from Page 1
– What are the qualifications?
And why is a representative
from PRAHD not here to answer
questions? (R-173) Will some
of this money go to paying for
counselors’ salaries, etc.? I’m
looking at the Public Defender
qualifications. (R-171) Did you
(the council) look at their qualifications?
Check out her (the
public defender's) website. It
says she’s a realtor. This is ridiculous.”
Baratta then spoke
about R-172. This is outside of
his scope of practice (Law Director
Peter King). These bills
are outrageous if they had to hire
an outside counselor.”
Law Director King responded,
“The tax collector was sued.
There were also employment
matters involved. Elaine Flynn,
the County Clerk was sued because
of a technical issue regarding
the paper ballots. The
decision is up for appeal.”
Council President Bill Petrick
asked, “Is the city paying for the
appeal?”
King continued, “The question
(regarding the election rule
of 50%+1 votes (requirement to
win a seat)) was never put on the
absentee ballot. I don’t think the
appellate division will throw the
appeal out. Everything on all the
ballots has to be the same information
in English and Spanish.
The absentee ballots and mail-in
ballots were a mess.”
Irizarry then spoke up, “There
was no reference at all given
to us regarding the lawsuit the
Mayor filed about the vote-bymail
ballots or the lawsuit involving
employee Eddie Perez
(City of Perth Amboy vs. Elaine
Flynn and Perez vs. The City of
Perth Amboy and employee and
disciplinary matters).”
Petrick addressed Peter King,
“This should be part of your normal
duties (lawsuits above).”
King responded, “We have
outside lawyers who handle employment
issues. There are some
lawsuits I can’t handle, and others
would be a conflict of interest.
I took on some of the less
costly lawsuits. There is also a
grand jury subpoena involving
professional services with some
contractors.”
Next was a question involving
the Citizen’s Campaign
who came to talk to the council
regarding tracking COVID-19
cases. Harry Pozycki (Founder
of the Citizen's Campaign) requested
this be placed on the
agenda.
Council President Petrick
asked, “Does this resolution
have to come from the council?
BID Chair Barry Rosengarten,
OEM Director Larry Cattano,
Housing Director Doug Dzema,
and the RBMC CEO Thomas
Shanahan are supposed to be
working with Pozycki and the
Citizen’s campaign on this project.”
Councilman Helmin Caba
spoke up, “I’m in favor of putting
this on the agenda for the
next council meeting.”
City Clerk Victoria Kupsch
stated, “It could be done.”
Councilman Joel Pabon said,
“I thought it would be a latestarter
for this council meeting
today based on an email I received
earlier today.”
Caba made a motion to add
this as a late-starter resolution
for tonight’s council meeting. It
was seconded by Councilman
Joel Pabon.
The caucus ended at 5:47 p.m.
The regular council meeting
started at 6:00 p.m.
Ordinance No.1 - Amending
an ordinance entitled Designating
Restricted Parking Spaces
for use by handicapped persons
re: renewal documentations was
opened up for the public to comment
on.
Resident and Business Owner
Jeremy Baratta questioned what
was changed.
Council President William
Petrick replied, “Applicants will
longer be required to provide
some documents that were requested
in the past.”
Later in the meeting, Baratta
questioned some items on the
bill list. “Some of the legal bills
are strangely detailed, for instance,
Larry Cattano’s lawsuit
has a very brief explanation
and the mayor’s lawsuit (Question
on ballot requiring 50% +1)
has no legal standing. It was the
council’s resolution. The council
votes on every settlement. They
never voted on this lawsuit. Did
they ever get the paperwork? A
full-time attorney should not
take on work that is out of their
scope.”
After Baratta spoke, Law Director
Peter King clarified some
items listed by the Community
Emergency Response Team
(CERT) which presented by
the Citizen’s Campaign. King
cautioned that this resolution
regarding the Community Emergency
Response Team are out of
the council's scope.
Councilman Joel Pabon said,
“I think OEM Director Cattano
looked at their plan, but it can’t
supersede what the state says.”
King continued, “We are guided
by the state as events unfold.
Resolutions are just the intent of
the governing body.”
OEM Director and Deputy Police
Chief Larry Cattano joined
the discussion, “The contact
tracing comes from the governor.
I don’t know if the plan
(CERT) is the same as the new
executive state order. The state,
county, and health department
are all involved. There are training
updates and the plans that
Pozycki’s group made at a previous
meeting may need tweaking.”
Councilman Fernando Irizarry
said, “The Law Director needs
to review the resolution presented
by the Citizen’s Campaign
group regarding the CERT and
this needs to be tabled.”
Petrick asked Irizarry, “Do you
want it reviewed by the OEM
and the Law Director?”
Irizarry answered, “Yes. Let’s
table this.”
Councilman Pabon asked Mr.
King, “Did you get a chance to
look over it (CERT resolution)?”
King responded, “I need to
look over it with OEM.”
Pabon then said, “I’ll second
the motion to table it.”
Petrick said, “We can do a letter
of support.”
When it came to vote, all voted
“yes” except for Helmin Caba
who voted “no”. Councilwoman
Milady Tejeda was not present.
Motion passes.
Council President made a final
comment regarding this issue,
“We can’t have a conflict with
the state’s order.”
Vote on agenda items: Ordinance
No. 1 – Moved by Joel Pabon;
seconded by Helmin Caba.
Ordinance No. 1 First Reading
– Salary and Salary Ranges for
Nonunion and Management Employees
was tabled. Ordinance
No. 2 – “Wreckers” was moved
by Fernando Irizarry; seconded
by Helmin Caba. Ordinance No.
3 – Disasters and Emergencies
regarding authority of Emergency
Management Coordinator
was moved by Irizarry; seconded
by Pabon. For the consent
agenda, resolutions R-158 thru
R-171 and R-173 was moved by
Irizarry and seconded by Pabon.
Councilman Helmin Caba asked
that R-172 (Payment to Peter J.
King, Esq. and his Partners) be
pulled to be voted on separately.
R-172 was moved by Irizarry
and seconded by Pabon. Caba
then went on to explain why he
wanted this resolution pulled.
“One reason is the handling of
the County Clerk Elaine Flynn
lawsuit. Are there any more lawsuits
connected with this? If the
court ruled against the mayor,
will the mayor have to reimburse
funds to the city? The lawsuit
was filed prior to the election
results.”
Law Director Peter King responded,
“The ballots violated
the law and there is an order to
show cause. People were marking
ballots with the question not
on it.”
Caba then asked, “How many
people complained?”
King stated, “I don’t know.
Maybe people called the mayor.
Copies of all the ballots were
looked at.”
Caba was concerned, “This
will encourage more lawsuits.
When is enough enough? We
can’t separate all the expenses
(connected to this).”
Council President Petrick suggested,
“We as a council can
vote “no” and have a separation
of the lawsuits.”
King then stated, “We can take
out the money connected to this
lawsuit or table this resolution to
just do this bill alone. You have
to vote “no” on this resolution.”
Resolution R-172 – Councilman
Caba, Council President
Petrick voted, “No”. Councilman
Pabon and Councilman
Irizarry voted “Yes”. R-172 does
not pass.
Last Public Portion:
Jeremy Baratta spoke again,
“R-172 went the right way. I recommend
maximum public participation.
The District Attorney
got this case because he could
do it at a discount to the city.
Money doesn’t get spent without
the council’s vote. There should
be a limit to what is spent for attorney’s
fees.”
No one else spoke. The Public
Portion was closed.
Council Comments:
Councilman Helmin Caba
stated, “My condolences and
prayers to all who put their lives
at risk.”
Councilman Fernando Irizarry
had no comments.
Councilman Joel Pabon said,
“We need to take a look at the
contract (Ordinance No. 1) we
tabled.”
Council President Petrick said,
“I agree with Pabon regarding
this Ordinance. I sent an email to
all about the budget.” He ended
his comments by saying, “Stay
safe. Stay healthy. Wash your
hands and practice social distancing.”
The meeting ended at 6:49
p.m. Councilwoman Milady
Tejeda was not present at either
meeting.